The Achilles Heel of China’s dramatic economic growth has been its reliance on imported energy, everything from oil to natural gas to coal. Quite aside from draining China’s treasury to pay for energy imports, the Chinese government frets that such reliance on imports diminishes the country’s independence by tying its prosperity to political turmoil in the Middle East and Africa while making those imports viable to interdiction by U.S. naval forces in the event of worsening relations with Washington.